Pac-12 Network: News and notes from the ground breaking

1. Commissioner Larry Scott said Moday that the conference had conversations with Washington in the wake of the Tosh Lupoi hiring.

Scott didn’t get specific but said the league is always monitoring “to make sure schools are following the rules” in terms of recruiting.

2. Scott said that the conference, for the time being, “has stopped short of taking a position” on options for a revised BCS/playoff model (unlike the Big Ten).

To the network // …

The Pac-12 held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for Pac-12 Studios, the headquarters of its TV and Digital networks. (Special guests included Ronnie Lott, J.J. Stokes and Marshawn Lynch.)

The broadcast center will be housed on two floors of the same Third Street (San Francisco) building that’s home to Comcast SportsNet/Bay Area.

I caught up with commissioner Larry Scott and Pac-12 Enterprises chief executive Gary Stevenson, who oversees the networks (along with Pac-12 Properties).

*** The Pac-12 Network(s) is scheduled to launch August 15, a little over two weeks before the start of the football season, thus giving the conference a cushion in case of glitches.

*** As I’ve noted previously on the Hotline, there are many unanswered questions in regards to distribution of/access to the national and regional networks.

I asked Scott about one of the unresolved issues: Will the national and regional networks both be available within the league’s footprint, or in a specific metro area?

For example: Would a fan in Seattle who subscribes to Comcast have access to both the Pac-12/Northwest and Pac-12 National feeds?

“It’s unclear,” Scott said. “Each distributor will have to make its own decision.”

Comcast has committed to one feed in Seattle but would have the option to provide both Pac-12 NW on basic cable and Pac-12 National on a sports tier.

“At a minimum, (Pac-12 National) will be offered online,” Scott said.

*** I also triple-checked with Scott about broadcast plans for football and men’s basketball games not shown on ESPN or Fox.

(I’ve sensed confusion about who will see what and where you need to be to see it.)

Here’s the answer: You’ll see everything no matter where you are, provided you’re a subscriber.

All football and men’s basketball games not shown on ESPN/Fox will be broadcast on the national and all the regional networks.

In other words, an Arizona basketball fan living in Seattle will be able to watch to all Wildcat games on Pac-12/NW … an Oregon football fan living in San Francisco will be able to watch to all Duck games on Pac-12/Bay Area, etc.

*** There is no news on carriage deals with the major satellite operators.

The conference has held discussions with Direct and Dish, but I don’t expect any deals for months.

(Such agreement typically aren’t reached until weeks/days before a network launches. The Pac-12’s deal with its four cable partners is unusual.)

*** All events broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks will be available through mobile devices (assuming you are a subscriber) … the “TV everywhere” concept.

*** The conference received what Scott called “certain pre-payments” from its deals with ESPN and Fox — money that will be used to offset the massive startup costs associated with the seven TV networks.

Scott reiterated that, from an operations standpoint, the Pac-12 Network(s) will be revenue-positive in Year One, although he doesn’t expect the league to distribute any network-related income to the schools in 2012-13.

*** Scott on the future home(s) of the basketball tournament: “We’re narrowing.”

When you wrote, “All football and men’s basketball games not shown on ESPN/Fox will be broadcast on the national and all the regional networks.” and then gave the example of “an Oregon football fan living in San Francisco will have access to all Duck games through Pac-12/Bay Area,” did you mean through their subscription to 12Pac/BA, on some “on demand” option? Because I really hope he does not mean to simply air tape delayed games (assumes all games will not be pre-scheduled for different kickoff times – a significant difficulty during OOC games).

And on Tosh, did Scott happen to say when they spoke with UW? Before LOI day? After? After the Tosh “press conference”?

TooBaditsStillaCableWorld

The “provided you are a subscriber” is quite disappointing, though not unexpected given the economics of broadcast rights. Ideally, the Pac-12 would lead the way in web distribution of athletic events, and there are many Pac-12 fans who would pay a considerable sum (all events or a la carte) to subscribe to a net package without the cable tie-in.

N or the Border

Likewise a question… Any further information on partnership agreements other than Comcast or satellite? I have cable, but Comcast is not available, and for four years have not been able to see Oregon Ducks programming as a result of negotiations disputes between Comcast (rights holder) and other Oregon cable operators who don’t want to be gouged by Comcast.

Border too

Same issue with non-Comcast…

Hirtt Butte Bear

Ha ha – all you stupid Washington fans can start apologizing now. This proves that UW was dirty in how they handled the To$h fiasco. Why else would Mr. Scott get involved if UW didn’t break the rules?

They actually broke several rules – does anyone know whether Scott is going to punish them for all of the things they did wrong, or will it just be the most egregious violations like hiring before LOI day and not giving two weeks notice?

Of course, the damage they’ve done to themselves will be more harmful than the punishment they’ll get from the Commish. They came across as totally unrealistic after giving Holt only 3 years. What kind of a coach is going to want to go into that kind of environment? And their recruiting stunk, so what did they do? They went and hired the best recruiter in the conference – that reeks of desparation. All this adds up to a volatile picture where Sark and Tosh probably are in the unemployment line next year.

Not that I care – I’m totally over how To$h completely screwed us over and how Sark did everything in his power to hurt Cal. They just fear the power that is rising in the bay. But like I said, I’m over it.

milo

I heard that a serious Italian curse was sent to UW and Mr. Lupoi. Get career insurance Sark and Tosh…you’re going to need it.

What is the price for the online streaming “TV Everywhere” concept? The devil is in the details.

Will there be apps for Googe TV? Will there be apps for Vizio TV? If we’re stuck with streaming because (as of yet) we have no resolution on satellite, so be it. But what is the cost we are looking at. Everyone wants a piece of the action and every channel wants MORE, MORE, MORE.

OT

It is now official: West Virginia have bought their way out of the BIG EAST and will be in the XII effective July 1:

Hirtt Butte Bear…sorry…however, it doesn’t look or sound like you are “over anything yet” concerning the “Husky coaching power grab”.

And I’m not a particularly strong UW fan…but, I have mentioned it before…they are remodeling Husky Stadium, they are probably “at least” in the Top 3 of wealthiest schools in the Pac-12 Confernce…give or take a spot above or below the 2 private entities–Stanford and USC. They want to “rule” the Pac-12 Conference and get back in the National Rankings in football…and 6-6 records year after year just don’t fit the template.

The Huskies have not been shy or timid in the ways they go about garnering success in the past…I don’t see them becoming any more reluctant to chase the edge of the cliff than before…poachining coaches, spending mega bucks and grabbing “verbal committed players” from other schools is just going to be “business as usual” for UDUB…they must displace their hated Oregon Ducks as the rulers of the Northwest and the Pac-12…they don’t like 2nd place.

And all Husky fans, alums and backers know it and support it!!

Get ready to “truly” Get Over It…the Other 11 Pac-12 member schools!!

GO COUGS!!

TommyCoug

I don’t know how “Papa John” got in there under my post…I apologize…I am “TommyCoug”!!

GO COUGS!!

Dumbdonald

Uhhhh, calm down Cal football fans…. College football is an extremely competitive business. Assistants, good assistants, change jobs and move up the ladder all the time, most during recruiting season. Us Husky fans would like to point out that our OC was plucked from the UW staff by Alabama, and our DB coach by UCLA, each during the recruiting season. It happens all the time! In fact, I seem to recall a time when Cal hired away the UW OC to be its head coach (and look how well that worked out)…. So stop crying.

NevadaUte

As a Utah fan living in Nevada (no clue which “region” I will be in, which doens’t matter since I refuse to subscribe to Cox Cable) I am still holding out hope that they will sign a deal with DirecTV for the Pac-12 National and all the regionals. I would imagine that DirecTV, with its presence in bars, restaurants and sports books across the country due to Sunday Ticket and MLB Extra Innings, would want access to all the programming they can get their hands on. After being a Dish Network subscriber for many years, and watching them steadfastly refuse to carry The Mtn., YES, MLB Extra Innings, MLB Network (which I believe it finally added) it is clear that sports are not a priority for them and I would be surprised to see more than just the Pac-12 National, and I wouldn’t even be surprised to see them not carry that.

The sooner that deal gets announced, the better I will sleep.

OT

Reminder:

Both DIRECTV and DISH have serious bandwidth issues, especially on its HD satellites (the ones with Ka-band transponders that beam MPEG-4 compressed video.)

If the PAC 12 insist that DIRECTV and DISH carry all 7 PAC 12 Networks 24/7, I just can’t see either DIRECTV or DISH agree to that.

Both DIRECTV and DISH would prefer to carry the PAC 12 Network-National ONLY 24/7, and turn on the PAC 12 Regional Networks only during live football and men’s basketball games so that both DIRECTV and DISH won’t have to devote bandwidth on the regional “junk” (such as coaches shows.)

Keith

All football and basketball games will be shown on the national and all regional channels simultaneously. So if a game is not shown on ESPN/Fox, it will be on all the other channels. The way the regional channels will differ from the national channel is all the other hours of the day that football/basketball games are not on.

Papa John

Ah, TommyCoug, you’ve been the one posing as me, albeit unintentionally? Thanks for solving the mystery.

I, too, would like more details about the UW/Lupoi investigation. Just what rules were of concern to Mr. Scott?

And as for the basketball tournaments, men’s and women’s, I’ll restate my earlier proposal for the benefit of Mr. Scott:

Step 1: Schedule home-away rivalry games during the same week. So Stanford plays at Cal on Wednesday and Cal plays at Stanford on Sunday.

Step 3: Pac-12 semifinals (Thursday-Friday) and finals (Saturday-Sunday) played in Las Vegas, men’s and women’s. It’s centrally located, more or less, and everyone in Pac-12 country can get there via non-stop flight.

Thursday: lowest seed vs top seed
second-best seed vs third-best seed

Saturday: championship game

Calfan

– The new MW-CUSA conference shall now be referred to as MUCUS. It is talking expansion, probably raiding the WAC, MAC and/or Sun Belt for more teams. And, they say, having teams from Carolina to Hawaii is for the sake of the “student athlete.” Sure, those trips from Fresno to East Carolina are going to be great for the “students.”

In my humble opinion, it’s a mistake. The MWC should have merged regionally, not nationally, and merged with the WAC. That conference would have been called the WACAW. It might have even included SJSU.

– I’m hoping DISH will include the P12Net, though I think I will likely have to pay extra for it. If not, I’ll switch to Comcast. I’ll take the regional coverage, provided the national content is available on line. What are the good devices I can use to stream directly to the TV? I don’t want to rely on my kid’s Wii, like I do for Netflix.

WWUTOO

Having worked in sales most of my life…….very familiar with “noncompete” agreements. While college football coaches are supposed to be hired because they can coach……let’s be real, UW could give a rats ass if tosh can coach. They overpaid (again) because the guy can recruit and they don’t care how he gets it done or where the kids come from as long as they have four or five stars by their name. California took a chance on this kid and put food on his table while he learned the ropes…..they also paid all of his bills while he was out “selling” Cal to these kids. The right and honorable thing to have done would have been to back off and recruit “new” kids…….not ones he had been selling on Cal. I don’t fault the kid taking the dough……sounds like uw just kept calling him back throwing more and more money at him until he said yes……they can’t handle not winning and how far ahead UO is in football and they’ll do anything to win. My money says the undiscovered recruiting violations are just around the corner.

harold

The bandwidth issue OT raises is a serious one. For out-of-market fans, the Pac-12 network may not be nearly what it’s been cracked up to be, giving us access to only a few more games than we get now — or possibly even less than we can get by subscribing to the total Fox Sports package that includes all the regional networks.

OT

@Papa John:

Even better proposal: play the first two round of the men’s PAC-12 tourney ON CAMPUS so that those games will actually be played in front of spectators instead of 15000 empty seats.

Wednesday/Thursday: 12 @ 5, 11 @ 6, 10 @ 7, 9 @ 8.

Saturday/Sunday: 12/5 @ 4, 11/6 @ 3, 10/7 @ 2, 9/8 @ 1.

The semifinalists will be re-seeded when they head for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas the following week: highest seed vs lowest seed go first, the 2 middle seeds play in the nightcap.

(Ditto for the women, but play the first round on Saturday/Sunday late morning/early afternoon i.e. 11am and 1pm PT, and 2nd Round on Monday/Tuesday nights. The Semifinals and Final can held at Pauley Pavilion, Galen Center, Maples Pavilion, or Haas Pavilion to keep cost down.)

Mephistopheles

@harold

Which part of every single Football and Men’s Basketball game will be on Fox, ESPN, or the Pac-12 National Network is hard to understand? There is absolutely no way you will get less coverage if you are able to get the channel.

If you cannot get the channel due to carriage disputes, then yes, you will get less access than what was previously provided by the Fox Sports regional networks.

FG

WWUTOO,

I agree. Sark and the UW should not have expected Lupoi to recruit to his best ability for UW once he started working for them for over $300,000/year.

And since UW “overpaid” and he apparently can’t coach the DL very well, I’m sure you and other fans won’t miss him. That’s nice to know.

I agree. Tedford saved him from homelessness by giving him a scholarship, then a GA position, then hiring him as a coach. It was all nepotism and Lupoi should always remember that. I’m sure, like you insinuate, that Lupoi never earned anything given to him.

On a serious note…UW does have trouble accepting not winning and how far ahead of them (and everyone else) UO is in football. Sark and his staff aren’t getting paid to lose. That’s why 3 coaches got fired, and he went all out to get the guys he wanted to replace them.

Pac 12 football at UW is about winning. And that’s what they’re using the new TV money for. Bummer for you that you have issues with it…because that’s life.

Ever since Sark has been coach at UW, Tedford’s staff has gotten 1-2 UW verbal commits to flip to Cal before signing day. Why? Because that’s Tedford’s job. That’s the way the world works.

FG

“Pac 12 football at UW is about winning.”

Have to admit they have failed at this goal for much of the past decade. Again, the key point is they’re not settling for the mediocrity they’re currently at. Sorry if that is “unfair” or “dishonorable.”

alchemist

Wisdom Cow:

I don’t think it would be that difficult to schedule so that everything’s on live. Times get moved and changed for TV all the time. There’s no way to do it so games aren’t on head-to-head against each other but if during Week 2 at 7:15 Southern Utah@Cal is kicking off on ESPNU at the same time as Oklahoma State@Arizona is on ESPN and Eastern Washington@Wazzu is on the Pac 12 Network (nationally on all channels) then that’s not all that bad.

Iowa Bruin

I live is Iowa and watch my UCLA Bruins on DIRECTV. I want to know if I will still get the games. Right now I get every single football and basketball game with my sports package. I will be one unhappy Bruin if the Pac 12 Network messes that up!

David K.

Cal/Tedford had the opportunity to keep Lupoi on staff without raising his salary, they chose not to so he left for a deal that gave him more money and a multi-year contract. If Cal wasn’t going to be “loyal” to him by offering him a multi-year extension why should he be “loyal” to them? What if they fired him after this year and there wasn’t a Washington level position open? What if he ended up having to settle for a much lower paying job? Would you complain about Cal being unloyal to him then? I doubt it.

So far there is no evidence Washington broke any rules, so as far as I’m concerned this one is all on Cal’s decision, for whatever reasons, to not retain him when they had the chance.

Papa John

Yeah, OT, I thought about your idea, but I was trying to keep travel costs down for the lower seeded teams in the play-in rounds. So Utah as a 12 seed would travel to #5 Colorado. If they win they would have to pack their bags and travel to #4 Arizona.

But I guess the point is, there are plenty of creative ways to avoid the emptiness of Staples.

Riverdicko

The Lupoi case shows just how corrupt recruiting is. You can’t exactly hire the athletes, but you can pay an assistant coach close to $500,000 a year to bring you the the athletes.

Chris M

Hopefully UW’s conversation went something like this:

Larry Scott – “Let’s try and keep the fighting out of the public…”

Sark/Woodward – “Shut up and go back to Walnut Creek. We’ll call you if we need anything.”

Reader

Wow Cal fans have sand in their vaginas

OT

The writing is on the wall for the WAC. Karl Benson has left the building and is headed for…

One would have to assume that the following schools are all applying to the new “Mount USA”:

Temple
UMASS (no reason to stick around the MAC once Temple leaves)
North Texas (which wants nothing to do with Karl Benson)
Florida International
Texas-San Antonio
Utah State
San Jose State
Louisiana Tech

OT

@Papa John:

The 4 major Division I Men’s Ice Hockey League use similar tournament formats: play-in round and quarterfinals played on campus, the semifinals and final at neutral sites over a weekend (Hockey East at Boston Garden, ECAC Hockey in Atlantic City, CCHA at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, WCHA at XCel Energy Arena in St. Paul.)

The PAC 12 should copy that format for men’s basketball. No one wants to travel to a neutral site to watch games on weeknights.

myk

“The right and honorable thing to have done would have been to back off and recruit “new” kids…….not ones he had been selling on Cal.”

– None othre than Shaq Thompson himself said that is exactly what Tosh did…but Im sure he is a liar.

BTW, I love all the Cal fans trashing Tosh’s coaching ability. Maybe that is why he left…maybe UW is the first school that treated him more then just a good recruiter.

Myk

“The right and honorable thing to have done would have been to back off and recruit “new” kids…….not ones he had been selling on Cal.”

– None othre than Shaq Thompson himself said that is exactly what Tosh did…but Im sure he is a liar.

BTW, I love all the Cal fans trashing Tosh’s coaching ability. Maybe that is why he left…maybe UW is the first school that treated him more then just a good recruiter.

17 students arrested in a sting operation, 4 of whom were on the TCU football team. All 17 students have been expelled.

Jay

Here’s a story this morning in the Seattle Times about Shaq. Notice that Shaq said Lupoi quit recruiting him once he resigned from CAL – the recruiting from there on was Sark and Heyward. So where is the unethical recruiting some of you cry babies are talking about?

Will I be able to purchase UCLA game today in first round of Pac-l2 tournament?

jason

i think the pac 12 should invite the big 12 to the conference ! wich will big in more fans and money to the west ..im a trojan fan and i support the pac 12 teams and i think if your a fan in the pac you should support all the schools and not just your team

Nate Stokes

“Which part of every single Football and Men’s Basketball game will be on Fox, ESPN, or the Pac-12 National Network is hard to understand? There is absolutely no way you will get less coverage if you are able to get the channel”

You have no idea what a nightmare this is going to be for you. As a Big 10 Ten fan born and raised (iowa hawkeyes) living in Mountain West Country for past 20 years (Albuquerque, NM) with BA and MA as well as job in sports/marketing etc., from OU Sooners–extremely odd background I know, but hopefully this willl show you I know a little bit on the subject:) This CBS Network deal has been a complete nightmare in EVERY way possible for MWC fans. It destroyed the conference. Utah fans: Why?? You guys left the MWC because of this situation remember? Did Utah brass warn the Pac 12 about dealing with CBS Sports? What they did to your former conference was criminal!!; Well, I finally have both the Big 10 and MTN networks after 5 years! Please go back on MTN and Big website archives and read how many lies were put out about “every single game” being shown to fans while no details about price, games etc. Big 10 was able to be ok in the end because of the power of their other ESPN and CBS and other local contracts, political power, number of Big 10 grads living in SW and West Coast etc. but MWC was destroyed beyond…..anyway, I’m telling you, don’t believe any thing but the details that CBS S/Pac 12 commish. –which you hear. Get the facts from them. None of their dumb talk about creating demand for network by calling your provider and demanding it blah blah. I’m telling you that Pac 12 doesn’t have the power to get this network to work for them….Living in Iowa and Oklahoma we simply didn’t talk about Pro sports on any kind at all….Cowboys, superbowl the very basics ok, but didn’t really care much about Pro sports, We worshiped college sports and–overall–I’ve noticed that the SW and West Coast just doesn’t have same level of passion for their college programs to make these networks work…. I’ve gone to a lot of live Pac/WAC/mwc events and then I’ve been to a lot of Big 8,10,12 etc events and it pisses me off that so few people care enough to support the local team! The crazy thing: I actually have to admit that it’s a good product when compared to the rest of the country…People back east will never say that but I will.–After being a hater for a number years about the Pac or SW Westcoast teams. I wish I wouldn’t have done that, I feel a little guilty talking all that trash now I guess…When I actually started going to games and watching on TV I had to give teams out here–like the Utah Football team in mid 2000’s–props…those were the best teams in the country those two years. Wish the fans out here would have cared more though. Went to 04 Fiesta Bowl (Utah vs Pitt) been to all kinds of Iowa bowl games vs Pac teams and there was always a lot more Iowa fans compared to the almost home team Pac team even! Sucks too, I actually started to like MWC Pac/MWC/WAC programs despite my obvious bias due to my background. Late 90’s UNM Rilvary with Utah in college hoops with Bliss and Majerius was great! Lute Olsen at Arizona and his issues with WAC “home calls” ! etc. That BYU Utah rivalry is something few people know about nationally but it’s one of the most entertaining things!! UNM had some good things going with the Utah schools and also with Air Force and Wyoming….probably dismissed as a joke to people back home, but I’ve got to admit it’s pretty crazy! “Bedlem” in Oklahoma between OU/OSU can be pretty tame most compared to some of the stuff I used to see out here actually…Iowa/ISU had some pretty fun times I guess but it wasn’t really as personal I don’t think. I have a pretty intense dislike of Ohio St but nothing like the utah schools have going with the whole morman/secular thing…and I won’t even get into some of the reputations that UNM or Wyoming have/had–I think some of those things have died out a bit. I wish more people around the country followed college sports out here because there has been great stuff going on, and actually still is on a smaller scale but no one seems to care that much compared to the “Big 4” pro teams, and even with WNBA and MLS now, which is just unheard of in the midwest/south…please ask someone from Atlanta Georgia about the Atlanta Hawks! Ask him to give you the starting line up…Well, anyway, gone on too long. I love sports too much.
NS